AUBURN, IN--Nov 11, 2013: Power management company Eaton today announced that its
plant in Auburn, Indiana, has reduced the distance material and parts
travel through the plant by 4.5 miles per day to help improve safety,
ergonomics and efficiency. The improvements are part of the plant’s
Material Flow Project.

“Everyone at Auburn and throughout Eaton is committed to
continuous improvement, which is reflected in our Materials Flow
Project”

The Auburn facility designs, engineers and manufactures clutch
components for the global commercial vehicle industry. The Material Flow
Project was initiated last year to address changes to Auburn’s
product mix and growing production volume – more than 50 truckloads
of material a day come in and out of the facility.

Team members conducted a thorough analysis of Auburn’s overall
manufacturing footprint and individual production cells, material storage,
work in process, sub-assemblies, finished goods, packaging and shipping
areas. They identified a 23-step improvement plan that ranged from moving
equipment closer to workers and making greater use of transport carts to
installing full-size bearing presses and relocating robotic cells and
entire assembly lines. The project was completed in October.

As each step was implemented, production operators, supervisors and
engineers responsible for the affected cell worked together to identify
other opportunities for improvement. In one area, a new hoist with
multi-speed controls was installed that is much easier for workers to
operate than the previous system. Visual alerts have been added to trigger
inventory replenishment within cells, and material now is delivered to the
edge of the various work cells to eliminate forklift traffic within
cells.

In conjunction with the Material Flow Project, Auburn employees
installed high-efficiency lighting and fixtures from Cooper Industries,
which Eaton acquired last year. Combined, the new fixtures and sensors save
more than 600,000 kilowatt hours of electricity per year and provide a
brighter work environment. Also added was a high-efficiency air compressor
that reduces electricity and gas consumption by 4.4 percent and 17.2
percent, respectively.

“Everyone at Auburn and throughout Eaton is committed to
continuous improvement, which is reflected in our Materials Flow
Project,” Beam said. “We also are sharing information and
lessons learned from the project with Eaton’s clutch facilities in
Charlotte, North Carolina, and San Luis Potosi, Mexico.”

The Auburn plant employs more than 175 people. Eaton contributes nearly
$200 million annually to Indiana’s economy through taxes, wages and
supplier impact. In addition, the Auburn facility and its employees donated
$10,750 to local community organizations in 2012.